The Men Behind Tarzan: The Real-Life Jungle Man and the Troubled Author Who Brought Him to Life

Mildin Vs. Tarzan

But the article was published in Man’s Adventure, which did indeed run true stories, but the thing is there doesn’t seem to be much evidence outside of Llewellan’s article that Mildin existed at all. But it’s hard to deny how similar Mildin is to Tarzan. Firstly, both of them came from English Nobility.

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Secondly, both were shipwrecked in Africa. But if Mildin really was the prototype for Tarzan, Burroughs decided to take some liberties and change things up a bit. Mildin was 11 and had run away from home, whereas Tarzan was a small child who was stranded with his parents. Another similarity is living with apes. According to his memoirs, Mildin didn’t seek out the land’s natives.

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